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Edison Owls

About Us

We are the Edison Owls: Leeasha, Ashley, Nydia, William, Neftali, Shakira, Margarita, Sylvanie, Isaak, Franchesca, Jonathan, Luis, Orlando and Ramon. This is our first year working with DT Philly and we are excited! We are in Mrs. Barrett's Life Skills class where we are working towards graduating from high school, employment, and independent living skills. We are looking forward to identifying some problems in our school and coming up with ways to fix them through one of the design processes. We think this is going to a fun project and can’t wait to get started!

Edison Owls-Next Steps We think that the questionnaire are very descriptive. It was a great alternative to test your design without actually building it. We think the survey will help give out ideas for your prototype. Many students have problems with uniform policies and the survey will help you know what students fell about the uniform policies. I think your teams idea will make a great effort towards the school's community.

Our Progress

Thanks for sharing your photos and ideas with us! We love the idea of fixing a flat with gum. Now that you know how to play, you can return to this game anytime during DT Philly- it's a great way to rev up your creativity.

10Great work! It looks like your team considered a wide range of problems. Making sure students have school uniforms is an issue, and it looks like you already have some ideas on how you might design solutions! Be sure to stay open to new ideas as well- you might learn some new things as you research the problem.

10Great job! You identified a wide variety of people who will have opinions about school uniforms and be important to include in your solution. Since your problem bridges two environments- school and community- you may want to eventually narrow your focus to one aspect of this problem as you learn more from your research. We also like that you used post-its to make your rich picture a more collaborative activity!

12Great job observing and identifying characteristics of the families in the photos- you have a great eye, and observed some things we didn't even notice! Think about how you could apply these skills to your project- what kind of users are affected by your problem? What types of students experience your problem? The families in this activity look and experience things in different ways- and so do the people you're designing for!

Wow! You did a fantastic job observing your environment and discovering indicators of problems! We hope you take these impressive observation skills and put them to use as your start research for your project.

8Great job! We're sorry you can't see the designer directory-- we aren't sure what the problem is, but for now, we have put a copy you can download in the Resources section (look under the "my account" menu). The owl can be found in the notices that appear at the top of your team page- you have to click the "more" button. Make sure you're looking carefully for all the information!

8Thank you so much for presenting on Friday! We hope you got some great feedback from designers. Continue to think about all those people that are affected by your problem, and see if you can talk to all of them during your research. Another piece of feedback the designers gave was determining which uniform pieces most students who get sent home are missing. This data might affect how you design your solution. Great work so far- make sure to keep asking "why" and dig deep during your research!

8 It seems like you learned a lot from your research. We like that you interviewed multiple teachers to get different perspectives, and observing the school entrance in the morning to see students' reactions to being turned away was a good strategy--you may have seen some things that people wouldn't have told you! As you catalog your takeaways, make sure you're continuing to consider all sides of the problem as well as the variety of reasons that students are out of uniform.

10You learned a lot from your research and found a new direction for your project. Your new "how might we" statement is much more specific, which will certainly help with brainstorming! It might help to talk to an administrator if you can, since design solutions that involve changes to the uniform policy would have to be approved by administrators. Also, consider if your alternatives would undermine the current uniform policy--it seems like your goal is still for kids to be in uniform. Balancing students not missing class with the requirement to be in uniform will be something you need to keep in mind. Great job so far--keep up the good work!

12It sounds like you found out some important information by digging deeper! It is certainly a lot harder to enforce a rule if a lot of people disagree with it. We think talking to administrators is a great idea, and may give you some key information that will influence your design solutions. We hope you follow up soon with your administrators and remember to continue examining your ideas and asking questions throughout DT Philly! Let us know where cheerios fell short to get 4 points back on this activity!

8These are some good goals. It seems like a common goal is keeping kids in school and in class, which is definitely important. You may want to also consider goals and outcomes specific to the uniforms themselves--should every student be in uniform? Should there be no uniforms? Should there be different rules around uniforms? These things will help guide you to a solution. Go back to your research, as well, and work on generating ideas based off of what you learned from that.

10You came up with some interesting ideas! Remember some of your research as you brainstorm--your solutions address students not wanting to wear uniforms. However, they don't address some of your other research findings, like students missing uniform pieces, or not being able to wash their uniforms. It may be worth looking back at your research and doing some more brainstorming around those other takeaways, as well.

12We like that you went out and found your own cloud examples--we're inspired by your initiative! If you have time to share, we would love to see any drawings you made of what you saw in the clouds. You can also earn 4 more points for this activity by taking a look back at your project work so far and trying to see something new in an idea, experience, or information that's right in front of you. Have you been overlooking something that might help with your solution?

Great job persevering until you got your contraption up and running! We hope you enjoyed creating your machine, and that it reminds you that your prototypes may also take multiple tries before they work.

8 We like that many of your store designs also offer other items, but we wonder how you'll know what kinds of items to sell besides uniform pieces. As you start prototyping that idea, you may want to do some more research to see what students and staff might want in a school store. Have you thought about where your store could go? Is there space at Edison you could use for it? We also love the name "Owl-et" for the store--it is so clever! We're excited to see how your prototypes turn out!

8Nice job prototyping store layouts! Making small models of the layouts you are considering is a great way to visualize what you want in a 3D space. However, make sure you are prototyping potential solutions to the problem you chose for your project--how to find alternatives to students missing important instructional time due to uniform violations. While the look and layout of your store are both good things to consider, they are not things that will solve your challenge. Does your store loan, rent, or sell uniforms? How do you know if students will take advantage of that service? What else do you need to prototype if you are offering a service that helps students stay in school and comply with the uniform policy? Are there any systems, items, or experiences that need to be designed as part of a potential solution? When a student is flagged for a uniform violation at the entrance, what would happen with your new service in place? It might help to think through and map out each step of that process or system. Also, are there other things you can prototype that solve your problem? Your solution could incorporate many different types of design, so it might be worth going back to the Wonderful World of Design and reviewing different forms of design that could play a role in your solution.

10While we think a survey is a good idea, there are lots of ways you can test your idea! Don't just ask students if they would buy or rent a uniform or use laundry facilities, test it out. Yes, it would certainly be hard to prototype an entire store like some of your concepts, but you can test specific elements of your idea. Perhaps for a few days, you offer laundry services for student uniforms, then use your survey to get feedback on your prototype. You could also test renting uniforms in a similar way, and tests other aspects of your store, like location, hours, etc. Remember that prototypes don't have to be fancy--you just need to create something that will test your idea in the real world. Also, make sure your prototypes are answering your original design problem. While offering other supplies to students is a great concept, it's starting to get away from the problem you originally set out to solve: students being turned away for not being in uniform.

8It's great to hear you got a positive response from students about your rental service. It looks like you found out some other additional information about how students feel about uniforms, as well. Have you tested your uniform rental service, yet? It sounds like a lot of students would be interested, but it would be great to test the system of renting uniforms as well. You can get more feedback, as well as learn what's missing or needs improvement in your process!

16Thank you for taking the time to check out another one of our team's work! We're sure the Fabulous Seven appreciate the feedback. It's always helpful to look at what other designers are doing. It can help you think of new angles for your project, and your feedback helps the other team!

4Thank you for submitting your essay, budget and handouts! Please send us an implementation plan (see your handbook for an example) to receive 4 points back on this assignment. Let us know if you need any help! We look forward to your presentation.

10Nice work--the cart looks great! Have you had a chance to test your cart during the school day yet? if so, that would be a good thing to add to your slides. You did a good job including your process and research in your presentation. Thanks for all of your hard work this year, and we can't wait to see your presentation next week!

20We're glad you took the time to practice your presentation in front of an audience, and it sounds like you got some positive feedback! The more you practice, the better and more comfortable you will be. We know you will do a great job!

Badges

Start Up- Zeroll Badge

Congratulations! You're starting to see things with a designer's eye. Great design comes from moments of discovery such as noticing a problem or an opportunity. Sherman Kelly did just that in 1933 when he noticed a young ice cream server who had blisters on her hands from dishing out hard ice cream. Kelly designed a new scoop made of cast aluminum that had fluid in the handle to transfer heat from a person's hand. This feature lightly softened the ice cream, making it easier to scoop. In addition, the scoop efficiently rolled the ice cream into balls and did not have breakable parts. TheZeroll scoop is one of the best in the business. You can even find one on display in New York’s Museum of Modern Art!

Empathy- Better Shelter Badge:

Thanks for taking a walk in someone else's shoes! Designers empathize deeply to understand the people they are helping, just as Ikea and Better Shelter did when they set out to create safer and more dignified housing for refugees. The resulting "flat pack" shelter can be assembled by 4 people in just 4 hours, is built to last three years, and features durable walls for privacy, windows for light, a locking door for security, and a solar panel that powers an overhead light and can charge a cell phone. Also, the ceiling is high enough to allow a person to stand up straight. Over 16,000 units have been distributed, and the shelter won the Design Museum of London's Beazley Design of the Year award in 2016.

Define - Woodland and Silver Badge:

Nice work! Research requires patience and persistence. Just ask Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, who were working and studying at Drexel in 1948 when they overheard a supermarket owner ask the school president for help developing an automated system to read product information at checkout. They settled on a design—the barcode—resembling linear Morse code and obtained a patent in 1952. But it took much more work over many years before their vision could be fully realized, and it was in 1974 that the first product—chewing gum—was scanned at checkout.

Ideate - AP Thailand Badge:

Way to get creative! It's not always easy to see everyday things or experiences with new eyes, but that's exactly what AP Thailand, a real estate company, did in a crowded neighborhood in Bangkok where there was no room to build soccer fields. AP Thailand literally thought outside the box and designed non-traditional fields to fit into spaces that were considered unusable. These unusual soccer fields are a hit with residents who now have a place to play their favorite sport.

Prototype - C.B.E. Badge:

Far out! Drinking out of a cup is something we take for granted, but in space, nothing is simple. Until recently, astronauts have had to drink from tubes inserted into special beverage pouches. Then, some engineers came up with an idea for a specially-shaped cup that uses principles of physics to keep liquid from floating away in the zero-gravity environment of the International Space Station. In 2015, astronauts on the ISS began using 3D printed prototypes of the cup as part of the Capillary Beverage Experiment (C.B.E.).

Test - Waymo Badge:

Now you get the picture…testing is very important! How else will you know that your idea solves your problem (and doesn’t cause unintended consequences)? In 2009 Google began testing concepts for a self-driving car, beginning with a retrofitted Prius operating on rural roads. As their design evolved, their testing became more sophisticated, moving onto highways and then to more complex urban environments. The self-driving car project, which Google spun off as an independent company called Waymo, has advanced its design so far that they are now conducting a public test of self-driving cars with residents of Phoenix, AZ.

DT Philly - StoryCorps Badge:

Hooray—you are on your way to getting your story out! You want your audience to empathize with the people you are designing for, and to understand the steps, goals, and outcomes of your design process and solution. Take a page from StoryCorps, an organization that collects and shares stories to help people understand one another’s experiences and perspectives. Story Corps uses audio recordings, pictures, and animations to bring stories to life. How will you tell the story of your project?

Nice work getting the conversation started! Collaboration is key to the design process!